


Quarantine

by Awkward_Dragon



Category: Weak Constitution: Common Cat
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I am so sorry, M/M, No Smut, Quarantine, Sexual Slavery, This is entirely because of a meme, alternate start fic, explicit use of CDC guidlines, more tags to come, probably, they were in quarantine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:08:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23472217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awkward_Dragon/pseuds/Awkward_Dragon
Summary: -This is an alternate start to my fic Weak Constitution: Common Cat in which the entire town is on lockdown and Kara meets Blue in a very different way-Kara is working as a runner.  He has been ever since this whole pandemic mess started.  Cities and towns have started going into lockdown in order to try and prevent the spread of a deadly virus.  It's dangerous work, staying out when he should stay in, but someone has to make sure that supplies get to the people who need them.He's not ready when one of the people on his route get sick, when he's forced into a mandatory two week quarantine to see if he's been infected.  Luckily, he's picked up someone else along the way.This should be interesting...
Relationships: Kara/Blue
Comments: 9
Kudos: 51
Collections: Weak Constitution Extended Universe





	Quarantine

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Weak Constitution: Common Cat](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17302013) by [Awkward_Dragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awkward_Dragon/pseuds/Awkward_Dragon). 



Blue

I ran.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, for as long as my body would take the strain. I ran for the first time in my life from my Master’s home. For hours I ran in the pouring rain, following only the vaguest set of instinctual directions.

For those first few glorious hours I tasted freedom for the first time in my life. For those first few hours adrenaline overpowered my senses and I didn’t have to worry about the wounds on my back or the cold seeping into my knees. But then those hours ended.

It didn’t take long for me to find an abandoned looking alleyway. Truth be told, everything looked abandoned, even my addled mind recognized that. I can’t understand why nobody is in the streets, but it’s easy to simply be thankful that there’s nobody I have to avoid.

_ Come to think of it _ , my mind circles on this point as I try to find some shelter from the freezing rain, _ my Master hadn’t sent anyone after me either _ . The questions whirl around in my head as I try to ignore the emptiness in my belly, but with the euphoric rush of my escape gone the pangs have become more insistent.

There’s not much I can do for that. A quick glance around the alleyway reveals a dumpster. My stomach gives an impatient growl and I resign myself to the fact that beggars can’t be choosers.

The stores that surround this alley are most definitely not food carriers, if the trash has anything to say about it. There’s something slick and dirty that nearly covers my forearms as I go wading through the contents of the bin. There’s a couple of cans, still slick on the inside with what might have been food. The frustration bleeds into my movements as my search isn’t as fruitful as I’d wish.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” My heart stops in my chest, the cold sweat breaking out along the back of my neck as I realize that the voice hadn’t come from the open streets. The voice had come from deeper in the alleyway, and that can only mean one thing. 

_ A stray. _

Her clothes are ragged and torn. Her ears tilt forward into an aggressive posture and she bares her teeth at me as she approaches. The more she reveals of herself from the shadows, the more I realize how fucked I am. She’s nothing like the small, thin thing that I am. Her body’s much broader than mine, strength apparent in her wiry limbs.  _ She could kill me if she wanted to, probably very easily… _

“I  _ said _ , what do you think you are doing, runt?” she growls as she looms over me, her hand fisting in the back of my shirt and pulling me out of the dumpster.

The low light that breaches into the alley isn’t good for much, but what I can glean from her general physicality does not reassure me. I don’t know much about her breed. As far as I can tell, she seems like a spotted hyena. Their females are supposed to be the more aggressive and territorial members of the breed. I can’t help but curse my luck.

“I’m s-sorry, I-I was just-” I stutter out, just trying to get out one coherent thought, before she cuts me off.

“You were just in my shit ya little fucker.” She pulls me out from the dumpster and I can do nothing but hang limply in her grasp as she pulls me closer for an examination.

I cringe away, trying to make myself look small. Trying to make myself look like less of a threat. She doesn’t seem to be in the best condition. Even the hardiest stray like her must fall on bad times. I try not to think about the lack of food I’ve found in the dumpster.

_ I’m tiny, I’m all bone. I won’t make a good meal. _ I want to beg, but I’m scared it might give her ideas.

“I d-didn’t know,” I plead instead, hoping for some sort of pity even though I expect none.

“No, I don’t suppose you did.” She growls in distaste as she brings me closer and gives a cursory sniff at my neck. “You’re new meat.”

My blood goes cold as the words register. Stories of ferals, told like ghost stories in my youth, flash back to me.

I don’t have any experience in a fight, but fear is an impressive propellant. I flail my limbs about and apparently the shock of my action is enough for her to release her hold on me.

The second I’m free, I bolt. For one horrifying second my bare feet do not gain proper traction and I’m sent sprawling onto all fours in the mud before I’m able to properly break for the street.

I don’t chance it with any more alleyways. The rain’s still pouring down, but there’s a couple of shops with colorful little awnings. It’s enough of a shelter from the rain for the meantime.

In any other situation I’d be worried about people seeing me. As filthy and unaccompanied as I am there’s no way that I could be seen as anything but a stray. But nobody’s out. The streets are deserted and even though the light of day is still dying, all the businesses around are dark and abandoned.

Regardless, I am willing to not spit in the face of such good fortune.

I take a moment to breathe, pulling my limbs close, doing my best to hold onto some body heat. The mud that has caked on my skin is thick and cold, making uncomfortable squelching sounds as I try to curl in on myself. My teeth are clattering together, the heat of my breath doing nothing to warm the ice that’s worked its way into my limbs.

Stars, it has been so long since I’ve been outside. The rain was cold, but it isn’t sleet or snow yet.

My head hits my knees as I let out a low, strangled sound from the back of my throat. I didn’t think this through. It will be a miracle if I survive the night left alone any further. Still, I can’t say that I regret my decision. My master would have killed me in roughly the same amount of time. At least the cold allows me a comfortable amount of numbness instead of the agony that Master would have supplied me with.

_ This is better. Thousands of times better. _

I don’t understand why he’d been spending so much more time at home. He and his wife were going stir crazy from the amount of time they’d spent in their estate. They certainly weren’t used to spending so much time in each other's company.

The servants that usually came in had stopped nearly a week ago, and without their mitigating influence their attentions had been turned solely on their pets.

“Hey there, what are you doing?” I hear a voice call out, and my breath is stolen from me as I look up to see the only person out and about in this whole town.

The man’s staring at me and I can’t help but wonder how long he’s been there. He’s dressed oddly, some entirely detached part of my mind remarks through the panic. He’s got pale blonde hair that must be quite long to be tied up the way that it is. The rest of his clothes are equally casual, though there is a strangely large, empty backpack resting on his shoulders. He’s wearing an odd fabric mask and slick looking gloves that must serve some purpose other than fashion, because they don’t go with any of his clothes and are much too short to go with the current trends.

It takes me a second to recognize the gloves as the same ones that vets wear when they conduct exams. My pulse hammers in my throat and I feel my limbs lock up even though I want nothing more than to run.

“Are… are you alright?” he asks, voice full of concern as he takes a step towards me, arm outstretched.

I’m screaming at my body to run, to flee and not look back, but at the moment I barely have the energy to flinch.

Oddly enough, that’s all that it takes to stop him. He freezes in his tracks when I flinch, still more than an arm's length away. It’s comfortable enough for some breathing space between me and an unknown. It’s hard to tell his expression from behind his mask, but he doesn’t look angry and when his hand draws back it’s not in a fist. 

“Kara!” a voice shouts out, followed by the rattling of metal against metal and the clopping of a horse.

“Kara! Oh, thank the Stars. I was hoping you didn’t make it to the end of your route yet! The Kalik family on your route, their eldest son just tested positive.” The rider pulls his steed to a halt, dismounting and addressing the odd man who’s stopped in front of me.

For a second I hold my breath, trying to stay as still as possible. As though that would keep the Anvi from seeing me, as if it could keep me out of trouble. I’ve only seen the crest emblazoned plate armor of the city’s Anvi a couple of times, but even I can recognise the executive city guard for a force to be reckoned with. He certainly wouldn’t have any trouble shipping me back off to my master, or maybe I’d end up in a pound somewhere. I’m not quite certain which would be worse.

At least for the moment, his attention seems fixed on the odd man that was trying to talk to me, and though I can’t see much of the man’s face given the fabric that covers it, I do see the concern rise in his eyes.

“Stars,” he gasps, shrinking back like the news physically damaged him.

“We’re rounding up all the people that might have come into contact with them in the past week. We need to make sure it didn’t spread,” the Anvi continues, and whatever that means the masked man doesn’t seem to like it.

“But my route- Leyland, these people need supplies-” He starts arguing, but the Anvi cuts him off.

“Your route will be taken over by an Anvi. You might be in danger,” he intones with levelheaded authority.

There’s no argument to be made and the other man knows it. The Anvi nods dismissively, turning away from the strange man to remount his horse when his eyes find me.

“Stars, these fucking strays,” he huffs under his breath and draws the curved blade at his side. I try to back away, but I quickly find that my back is already against the wall. My whole body locks up as I can only watch the approaching metal glint in the soft light.

“Hey, hey no! What are you doing?” The strange man, Kara I thought I heard him called, stops the Anvi with a wave of his hand. 

“Kara, these strays are spreading this like wildfire.” He speaks through gritted teeth and I know that I will see neither my Master nor the inside of a pound.

“You can’t say that for su-” Kara tries to speak, but the Anvi cuts him off.

“They are the only ones with free rein with the town going into lockdown. They run around and sneak into people’s yards and suddenly people who’ve been asymptomatic for weeks are getting sick.” His words are heated and, though I have no context for what he’s saying, terrifying.

_ Why is the town in lockdown? People are getting sick? Is that why nobody’s out? How long has this been a problem? _ I can feel my hands starting to tremble.  _ Stars, how do you know if you’re getting sick… _

It’s a tiny, terrible, irrational thought. I can’t have gotten sick. I just left my Master’s house and the streets have been empty.

“...Ok, but that’s not a stray,” I hear Kara say, distracting me from both the blade that’s in front of me and the mess of fear and jumbled questions stirring around in my own head.

What does he mean ‘not a stray’? My clothes are torn, I’m covered in mud, and I certainly don’t have a Master with me. Even the Anvi finds it suspicious, fixing Kara with a dubious look.

“He’s mine,” Kara explains like it’s the simplest of conclusions and my breath catches in my throat.

“Kara, you got a...pet?” The sword is shifted away from me as the Anvi comes out of his aggressive posture. He’s entirely too consumed by the insanity that Kara’s trying to present as fact. I have to admit, I agree with him.

“Look, I needed some help on my route and it’s kinda creepy walking alone. I picked him up almost a week ago. It’s not his fault he tripped and took a dive into some mud.” He lies casually and all I can do is nod along and pray the man takes the excuse.

I don’t know why this man is helping me. He’s offering me a chance not to get put to the blade out here in the streets. He doesn’t have any stake in whether I live or die, but I can’t help but be grateful. 

“Alright… I guess there’s no accounting for taste, but we have bigger problems at the moment. Come on, I’ll escort you home.” The man fully puts his blade away and I release a breath that I didn’t even notice I was holding.

“Oh, thanks Leyland…” Kara’s smiling as though he is pleasantly surprised by the gesture.

“Well, tell your boy to get up.” He casts a glance back at me where I’m still sitting slouched against the brick building. It occurs to me that I’m not presenting the ideal image of a pet. My posture is terrible, I’ve left my betters waiting for me, and though it’s no fault of my own, I am quite filthy.

I scramble forward, hoping I can regain some face in front of the terrifying guard. I can feel myself shaking as I settle into a familiar position, back straight, eyes to the ground, three steps behind Kara, following him as I would my Master.

The Anvi gives a huff at my behavior and I can only hope that he’s choosing not to say anything out of respect for the man who’s claimed me. This… Kara, he looks oddly at my posture too, but not because it had taken me so long. In fact he seems more confused by my position than anything else. The look is gone so quickly that I have to wonder if it was disgust rather than confusion. I couldn’t blame him.

My head swims and I have to shut my eyes against the sudden dizziness that makes me want to fall back to the ground. I’m hungry and I’m tired. It’s nothing new. I’ve gotten through worse before. I wonder if this seemingly altruistic man will allow me a dry place to sleep tonight, maybe food if I get lucky… Though my stomach churns uncomfortably at the thought of how I would repay him.

I don’t know what he wants me for. I don’t know why he stuck his neck out to protect me. Even still, he’s just saved my life and, under the careful gaze of the Anvi, I have no choice but to follow him back to his home. All I can hope for is that this consideration lasts just a little bit longer.

I don’t know who he is, I don’t know why he wants me, but I can hope… I can hope that his generosity and good temperament will hold out for the night.

I can hope.

_ It’s all I really have... _


End file.
